Saturday, November 9, 2013

From the height and weight data on each Olympian's profile page for the 2012 London Summer Olympics, I have produced some body mass index (BMI) histograms. I only used Olympians that had both valid height and weight data (a number were missing either height or weight or both).

The first BMI histogram is the overall one for every athlete regardless of sex. The mean value was 22.9 and the median was 22.5. The minimum BMI was 13.3 and the maximum 63.9. The maximum BMI belonged to Ricardo Blas Junior, competing for Guam in the 100 kg plus Judo event. He competed at a height of 185 cm (6 foot 1) and weighed in at 218 kg (481 pounds). The minimum BMI belonged to soccer player Cristian Tello who played for Spain the men's event, competing at a weight of 43 kg (95 pounds) and a height of 180 cm (5 foot 11). Looking at pictures of Tello, I believe there is a possibility it is a typo.

The next histogram is for males only. The mean value was 24.0 and the median 23.5. The minimum was again 22.9 and the maximum was also again 63.7.

The next histogram is for females. The mean value was lower than for males, at 21.6 and the median was lower too at 21.3. The minimum BMI was higher than for males, albeit slightly at 13.8. The maximum BMI was significantly lower at 52.5. The maximum female BMI belonged to Holley Mangold, who competed in the women's super heavyweight weightlifting competition. Mangold competed at a height of 173 cm (5 foot 8) and a weight of 157 kg (346 pounds). The minimum female BMI belonged to Doreen Amata of Nigerian, competing in the high jump. Her height was 198 cm (6 foot 6) and her weight 54 kg (119 pounds).